Culturable Diversity of Lichen-Associated Yeasts through Enrichment Strategies

oleh: Daniel B. Raudabaugh, M. Catherine Aime

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-03-01

Deskripsi

Lichens are symbiotic partnerships between a filamentous fungus and a photosymbiotic “alga”. Studies show that lichens harbor endothallic fungi, but that some taxa have been difficult to isolate from the main filamentous thallus-forming fungus and other faster growing lichenicolous/endothallic fungi. Therefore, we aimed to develop and evaluate liquid yeast-enrichment strategies to (1) isolate lichen-associated yeasts in pure culture, and (2) determine the taxonomic placement and breadth of the diversity of culturable yeasts. Eighty-two lichen samples were collected and washed with distilled water, and healthy thalli were ground up and added to seven different yeast-enrichment broths. Yeast colonies were isolated in pure culture and identified using molecular techniques. Initial isolates were identified using BLASTn analysis, and a taxonomic refinement was completed using PhyML analysis. In total, 215 isolates were obtained. The most prevalently isolated ascomycetous yeasts were within the Dothideomycetes (<i>Aureobasidium</i>, <i>Plowrightia</i>, and <i>Dothiora</i>), while the most frequently isolated basidiomycetous yeasts belonged to the genera <i>Curvibasidium</i>, <i>Sporobolomyces</i>, and <i>Tremella</i>. The generic placements could not be determined for 17 isolates, and in total 25 novel species were recovered. The results of this research indicate that (1) lichen-associated yeasts are diverse, (2) employing liquid enrichment strategies is effective for isolating many of these, and (3) lichen thalli represent a valuable untapped reservoir of diverse and novel yeast species.